The heavy price of speaking out

I found The Sun's news brief about the creator of the anti-Islamic film "Innocence of Muslims" very interesting in light of U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's recent comment that "we do not stop individual citizens from expressing their views, no matter how distasteful they are ("Man linked to anti-Islam film held without bail," Sept. 28).

The visuals of a man under a heavy police guard being moved at night with a towel and sunglasses hiding his features indicates to me that, regardless of what the secretary said, there will be a price to pay for speech we don't like.

The government says one of filmmaker Nakoula Basseley Nakoula's violations is in his use of an alias in making the movie. But the Library of Congress allows the use of pseudonyms in both writings and film productions.

And what about government whistle blowers? Even if their jobs are protected, they are subject to ridicule, abuse and harassment in the hope they will quit.

It amazes me how many people are unwilling to talk honestly for fear of paying that price. And we live in a free country, unlike people elsewhere who have been told in no uncertain terms that if they continue speaking out they will be jailed.